


Wake Up

by ErinWantsToWrite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, M/M, Voltron, not an alternate universe but not exactly something else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 20:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11493870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinWantsToWrite/pseuds/ErinWantsToWrite
Summary: Keith wanted everything to be real. But it was fake, and it scared him. He couldn't remember the last time he was scared, because this fake world was erasing what was real- what was outside of his mind.Lance knew they wanted him to wake up, but it was so nice here. The sand between his toes, the water slapping lightly against his ankles and knees. His best friend and family singing songs on the beach behind him. He knew it was fake. But was it so bad? Keith was here, Keith was with him and it was nice. Lance doesn't know why the small snippets of memories tell him Lance yelled at Keith a lot. But he and Keith were both real.They wanted to stay sleeping, but they needed to Wake Up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tommino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommino/gifts).



> This was originally posted on my Wattpad *cough @tophatmusician cough* 
> 
> Thanks to @Tommino and Katchann for encouraging me to get my own account!

Keith remembered the first time he saw Lance.

 

Sure, the boy had met him before, they went to the same school after all. They had bumped into each other often, not really meaning their "sorrys" and continuing on their way to separate classes. 

 

But this was different.

Keith remembered the day clearly, it was like he lived it one hundred times; it definitely felt that way,he had thought about it every night, every time he blinked he could see Lance under his eyelids. It was as if someone lit a fire under him, and Lance was the bucket of cold water.

~

Keith leaned against the brick wall, staring out at the road. It was night time, there were a few stars dotted in the black, inky sky. There were bright neon lights on "open" signs for the convenience store. There was the smell of gasoline and trash on the ground outside the apartment building.

Keith looked at his phone, then looked up at the apartment building. Pidge and Allura were supposed to be getting Shiro so they could have a friend's night out, but they were taking a long time.

Keith let out a sigh, straightening his red jacket, and running a gloved hand through his black hair. He shut his phone, grabbing the helmet on his motorbike, putting it on his head, he revved up the engine.

That was when a shuffling of feet was heard, and someone jumped on the bike behind him.

"I'll pay you fifteen bucks if you drive as fast as you can away from here." A guy said.

"Twenty-five." Keith argued, hearing sirens on the street away from them, heading this way.

"Twenty, that's all I have." The voice chuckled.

Keith revved the engine, hearing Allura call out his name. He didn't know why he did it then. For they money? No. 

He just had a gut feeling that something would change in his life if he drove off.

So he did, with the boy in the backseat of his motorbike.

"Kei-"

Keith drove off, his backseat rider whooping as a cop car came around the corner, spotting them. He hollered as they lost him on the next street over by turning into an alley. Keith smiled under his helmet, this was way more fun than some "friend's night" where he would have to listen to Shiro and Allura flirt while Pidge worked on some new machine. He raced further, the guy behind him laughing over the wind.

Keith turned sharply onto a sandy road, leaving dust trailing behind them.

His backseat rider didn't wait until they were stopped completely to jump off of the backseat. Keith stopped in front of him, looking at the boy.

He was his age, was tanned, his blue eyes sharp in the dark, filled with a mischievous look that matched the smile he wore. His jacket looked familiar to Keith, but he shrugged it away. 

 

The guy pulled out a crumpled twenty dollar bill from his jacket pocket, handing it to Keith. 

 

"Thanks for the escape, dude." He smirked at Keith, and if Keith didn't know better, the guy was checking him out. His blue eyes looked him over, and Keith tried not to fidget.

"What exactly did you do that got you here?" Keith asked, curious. The stranger had gotten a hold of his attention, Keith didn't exactly want their encounter to end there, on the sandy road. His stomach pulled at the stranger.

"Ah, you aren't supposed to egg people's cars, even if they're jerks." The guy said nonchalantly, making Keith chuckle. "Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked.

"You look pretty familiar too, if I think about it." Keith said, realizing his helmet was still on. 

 

When he took it off, the guy tilted his head, Keith shifting uncomfortably under his strong gaze.

"I'm Lance." He held out a hand. Keith took it in his own.

"Keith."

Lance put both of his hands in his pockets. "Where exactly are we, anyway? I wasn't paying attention really."

Keith looked around. He had unconsciously driven towards the beach area, it was only a minute away from Shiro's house.

"This is the beach. I figured they wouldn't follow us to here." Keith leaned back, lying. He just didn't want to be made out for as a fool, or give him the thought that they could have gotten caught because of him.

 

"Oh, cool. I live around here I think." Lance said, looking around, spotting the beach.

"I should probably head back to my friends.." Keith said. "Kind of left them back there."

Lance leaned on a light post, smiling. "You sure sound like you don't want to."

"Ah, two of them are a new couple, and the other is a complete nerd who only talks in science, they don't know English." Keith laughed lightly. Lance perked up a bit, the gears working in his head. 

 

"Well how about you and I meet up with my friend?" Lance asked. "He lives next door to me, right around there-" He pointed one finger towards a beach house nearest them. "And by this time of night, he usually is up eating." Lance shrugged.

Keith thought about it. It was surely a good choice, he would rather spend time with Lance than the other three, mostly because their friend's nights consisted of board game's at Allura's with her Uncle Coran. They were okay at school, but they got awkward around each other sometimes.

But Keith wasn't rude to his friends. He relented on going back to them.

He shook his head at Lance.

"Ah, suit yourself." Lance shrugged, smiling at Keith. "Maybe I'll need a ride again." Lance said. "Someday."

"Yeah, you can count on me for that, then." Keith said, putting helmet back on. His eyes lingered on Lance for a second. "See you around, Lance."

"See ya, Kogane." Lance smirked, turning to head down towards his friend's house.

 

It wasn't until Keith was back in front of Shiro's apartment, with a worried group of friends, that he realized Lance knew his last name. Keith smiled to himself, making Allura think he was laughing at her.

"Keith!" She snapped in from of his face to get his attention. "What's so funny?"

Keith looked at her, Shiro raising an eyebrow at him.

"You drive off with some stranger and then come back smiling like a goof, what happened?" Pidge put their hands in their pockets after adjusting their glasses. 

"Ah, it's nothin'." He said. 

"No, tell me!" Pidge smiled. "Did y'all make out or something?"

Keith looked down at Pidge, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Uliga siljelo nugungaleul jug-yeoss-eo." Keith said in Korean, catching Pidge off guard. "Geu da-eum ulineun laseubegaseue gassda." 

"Shiro he's doing it again!" 

"Keith, you know we don't know Korean."

"Geuge naegahaneun iyuya." Keith smiled, but it was empty. He just wanted to mess with them, and it was working. Pidge was grumpy for the rest of the night.


	2. 2) Voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah where do all of you guys come from?? I've had up the story for one day and already I'm getting people reading. Thanks so much for reading this load of trash. 
> 
> Also, this will have bad language in this- because of the rating for teen and up!

Keith had a strange feeling. 

It was like when someone fell asleep. In your dreams, you sometimes know it isn't real, it isn't reality, but it still feels real. You can hear, touch, taste, see everything in your dreams.

And sometimes, he thought people were telling him to wake up.

At random moments during conversations, he would hear the person say something unexpected.

"Voltron needs you." Pidge had said one time, smiling.

"What?"

"I said, have you finished the homework?" 

It was surreal. He had a familiar sense to the things he heard. 

Voltron? He thought. Was it some type of stupid show he had heard? He didn't think so, but then again, no one else heard it.

"Wake up, Keith." Shiro said to him.

"What? Why? I'm awake right now." Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I know you're awake, I asked if I could borrow a pencil." Shiro looked at him oddly.

"Lance hasn't woken up either." Allura whispered to herself, and Keith heard her. 

"Lance?" 

It was off. They sounded so far away yet right there. And ever since he met Lance, it was as if this happened every minute. People were telling him, begging him to wake up. 

But he was awake. This wasn't a dream, this was reality. He was on Earth, with his friends, trying to think of who the Lance boy was. How Lance knew his last name.

It was so surreal to him. 

"Keith?" Someone whispered. "Please wake up. Were all worried sick. Lance hasn't woken up either." A small voice was in his head, echoing around. He could hear how scared it was. The voice was trembling. "You need to wake up, Keith."

I am awake.

"Please?" 

"Keith! Honey breakfast is ready!" He heard his mom. He was sitting in his bed, looking out the window. He blinked, then looked around uncertainly.

It was his room. His room was real.

He felt like it was strange. As if he hadn't seen his room in years, but didn't he always wake up here? He has lived here all of his life. With his mom, and dad and little sister, Katie.

Katie? He stopped. He doesn't have a sister named Katie.

"You remind me of Matt sometimes." A voice echoed. "Smart, yeah, but Matt sticks to his instincts just as much as he sticks to the facts." It felt like a wall pressing against his head, the fondness and sadness that was in the voice.

Keith stopped putting on his pants, almost losing his balance. What was that? He didn't remember someone named Katie. 

Katie sounded like Pidge, the same voice...

He suddenly couldn't remember what he was thinking about. He went back to pulling his sweatpants all the way up and heading downstairs to meet his mom.

His mother was in the kitchen, her black hair in a bun on her head, her face smiling softly as she sang along to an old Korean song on the radio, dancing to the music.

Keith stopped at the bottom step.

It seemed foreign to him. But his mom did this all of the time, right?

He had noticed all of the little things in his life, and he couldn't understand why he was questioning them.

His mom turned her head to look at him. Keith squinted at her. Her mouth was in a smile, but her eyes, her entire face almost looked like she couldn't decide what to look like. As if it were made up, trying to find the perfect look. But it looked liked her.. Right? 

Keith smiled at his mom, then went to give her a hug.

"I'm so sorry."  
-

Lance pulled on a blue t-shirt as he was walking downstairs. Hunk was sitting with his mom at the table, his younger brother running around hollering about monsters, his little sister giggling and running around with him. A baby sat in a high chair and made a mess if his pea slime. An older boy, in his senior year, was trying to finish homework and a teenage girl was panicking and trying to find all of her things for band. A radio played a song, no words discernible.

His mother had the same tired face, but her eyes were always like his. The sparkling blue, ready to cheer someone up, always telling jokes. 

His younger brother was just like him. With a front tooth missing and a goofy grin, his curls messed up in the top of his head. His little sister had the same matching brown skin, and bright green eyes like his dad's. Her hair was to her knees now, and she refused to brush it.

But it seemed off. 

He didn't know why, he was just looking at his mom, and realizing the sun bent oddly around her, almost like a mirage in his eyes. He shook his head, smiling and running to hug his goofy siblings. Hunk laughed loudly when his brother managed to make him fall onto his butt, and Lance grinned at Toby and Tiarra. 

He looked at them, as if he hadn't seen them in forever, felt a pang in his heart for them. But he saw them every day, right? It wasn't like he had been away for too long. Just a little while to go to school everyday. 

It always felt weird at school. 

It felt like the halls were different than he remembered, almost like a building he spent a week in, not his entire life. The hallways had posters, but they were almost too blurry to him. Maybe he just would need glasses.

"Please wake up." Toby laughed. 

"What did you say?" Lance looked at Toby. That wasn't his voice, that was someone else's. 

"I asked if you would throw the ball with me today at the beach! Tiarra and I have been practicing! And Dad's doing the barbecue tonight so that means auntie Lola and uncle Pat are coming to visit!" Toby grinned childishly, hugging Lance.

"Sorry Tobes," Lance patted his head softly, smiling. "But Hunk and I were planning on going down town to meet a friend. We'll throw when I get back, okay?" He planted a kiss on the top of Toby's head, then on Tiarra's. "Be good. Don't terrorize mom while I'm gone, okay?"

"Don't terrorize mom while I'm at the Garrison, kay?" His own voice laughed inside his head, mixing together with others- but it felt pressed down, someone was trying to close a suitcase too full of random things.

"Don't worry Lance! You have fun with Hunk there! You better send pictures!" Toby hugged Lance's knee, smiling, but his voice was far away. Lance doesn't know why his chest squeezed, it was unfamiliar in feeling- but at the same time it wasn't.

"I'll miss you loads, Lance!" Tiarra's sniffling voice cried out in his head. 

Lance looked at Tiarra. Why did he feel homesick? He was at home? 

"Awe. I guess Tiarra and I will be angels." Toby grinned at his younger sister. 

Tiarra shrugged. "I've got nothin' better to do." The two ran off through the house, their laughs echoing around in his head.

Hunk placed a hand in his left shoulder. "You ready to go?" 

Lance stood his ground. Why did he feel a sinking feeling in his stomach? It wasn't like he wasn't coming home. His mother kissed his cheek. 

"You come home right after, mister." She chuckled. "You stay safe. Don't get into to much trouble." 

"Don't get into to much trouble at the Garrison, Mijo." His mother said fondly.

"I won't, I promise." His laugh echoed in his own ears.

Lance smiled at his mom, but something felt wrong. Something was weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this?? I think I could do better when writing this. It isn't beta read, so if there are mistakes feel free to point them out so I can fix them later! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY THIS TOOK SO LOOOOONG I WAS UPDATING ON WATTPAD AND THEN FORGOT IT WAS ON HERE 
> 
> D:
> 
> THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE <3

"If you don't put me the FRICK down you're gonna regret your EXISTENCE." Lance yelled, kicking Hunk and struggling to get down.

"Then maybe you'll learn to not jump off of fences onto poor children!" Hunk snapped. 

"Those little turds were in my way! It wasn't my fault!"

Hunk snorted, rolling his eyes. Hunk had slung Lance over his shoulder. They were currently outside a diner, an hour after leaving Lance's house to meet up with Page, a younger girl who had gotten bumped up a grade. 

Lance wiggled, trying to get out of Hunk's grasp. He was sure Lance would probably ruin the diner if he set him down.

"Lance?" 

Lance looked up, and smiled brightly. 

"Heyo Keith!" He tilted his head. Keith was walking on the sidewalk with three of his friends. 

"What are you doing?" Keith asked him, looking at him with a small smirk. 

"Just hanging out, what about you?" Lance moved to see Keith's friends. "How was your friend's night, then?" He laughed.

"Who is this?" A girl with white hair in a high pony tail asked, clearly amused with Lance's predicament.

"I'm Lance McClain, this is my friend Hunk. You're Keith's friends, right?" Lance asked.

"Yes. I'm Allura, this is Shiro and Pidge." She pointed at the two others.

Lance smiled at Keith. "I think I need another escape?" Lance pointed at Hunk, who huffed.

"I'm not putting you down until you promise you won't terrorize more children." Hunk said. 

"I said that wasn't my fault!"Lance struggled. "Page is inside and probably taking a video at this point! Come on put me down!" He complained.

There was a giggle from in front of Hunk, and Lance saw Page. 

"Oh heya Page." He said.

Page was as small as Pidge, with short red hair and green eyes, she was noticeably younger than them, except for Pidge, who was Page's age. Page walked over and made Hunk put Lance down,still giggling however.

"I leave for one week and you already almost got arrested." Page said to Lance.

"How'd you-" Lance slapped his forehead. Page put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow with a small smile on her face. "Of course you know, it was your uncle in the cop car." 

"You're lucky you had motorcycle man because Loui was so ready to call your mom." Page pat his head. "Now come on, I'm starving, and have a week's worth of stories to tell you." She grabbed his arm, like a little sister would. 

Page saw the others, and smiled brightly. "Are you friend's of Lance's?" Page asked, excited.

"Apparently Keith is." Pidge said, pointing at Keith but not looking up from her phone. Page turned to him. "Do you all want to come in and eat with us?" She asked kindly. 

"I'd like that." Allura said, grabbing Shiro's arm lightly and following Page, who was dragging Lance and Hunk. Her pink skirt swayed as she walked.

Page ended up sitting next to Pidge in the middle of a booth, Lance and Keith squished into the window. Allura and Shiro were in front of Keith and Lance, Hunk next to them. The place was crowded, a loud jukebox playing in the background. For some off reason, Lance knew the song but he couldn't guide catch the words.

"So why did you invite us to the diner, Page?" Lance asked. "You seemed excited on the phone." He sipped on a lemonade. It tasted bland, not the usual sweet taste he loved about the place.

"Oh yeah!"Page whipped out her phone with a glasses keychain jingling, unlocking it and showing Lance a picture of a girl with long brown hair and freckles covering her tanned skin. "This is Anna." She was giddy just mentioning her name. The picture seemed to grow blurry, and Lance studied it as he saw no more freckles. He blinked in surprise.

"So that's you're new girlfriend?" Hunk asked. 

"Hey, that was my line." Page complained. 

Hunk shrugged. "I just figured since you were so excited over her."

"How do you know Lance?" Allura asked Page, curious for some reason. She was smiling largely, occasionally glancing at Keith.

"I have to babysit him when his mom isn't home, and his little brother and sister. The two younger ones are less rowdy and go to bed though." Page giggled into her hand as Lance kicked her shin.

"You shut it, Page. You only know us because my mom and yours were in college together."

"True, but it still stands that I babysit the monster." Page got elbowed by Lance. Page shrugged it off, then looked at Keith. "I'm guessing you're motorcycle boy, correct?"

It seemed Page knew everything. 

"Yep." Keith answered. He watched Lance for a second, then looked at Page. Lance stared at his hair. When it wasn't covered by a helmet, he noticed that he hadn't bothered to cut it, and it looked nice and curly. 

"I knew it." Page whispered.

"Wake up." Pidge said. Lance and Keith both perked up. 

"What?" They asked, then looked at each other. Lance caught Keith's surprise in a single glance. As if he saw that face every day.

"Er.. I asked you guys what exactly happened." She looked at them oddly. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine." Lance said, but looked at Keith. He knew Keith heard it. It wasn't just him now. Something wasn't right, and Lance needed to know. 

"Are you going to tell us, or no?" Shiro leaned back in the seat. His silver hair caught the sunlight.

Keith shrugged. 

"So I may have egged somebody's car, and Page's uncle would've caught me if I hadn't asked Keith for a ride." 

"Got a twenty dollar bill." Keith chimed in. "Spent that on a milkshake." He noted, then went back to quietly listening.

"Well, Keith got lost but e pretended he didnt. Luckily I was next to Hunk's house so we went our separate ways." Lance set his lemonade to the side.

"I do want to know how you knew my last name." Keith said. "That was creepy."

Lance blinked. "We went to school together, didn't we?"

"I'm Lance, we were rivals! Keith and Lance, Lance and Keith?" Lance looked at Keith, his arms supporting a very tired and broken Shiro.

Lance blinked, then looked at Shiro, then Lance. 

"We shouldn't have used that system-" Pidge conplained.

Keith looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"I said you guys are boring." Pidge said. Page giggled, making Pidge look proud.

"Yeah, whatever." Keith said. 

They glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. 

You heard that too.  
-


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> smoothies

Lance sat on the bottom of the school steps, looking at his phone. He concentrated heavily on what he felt. The air, which he remembered to have felt heavy and humid, but it didn't feel like that at all. And when he thought about it, he felt light. As if there wasn't any gravity connecting him to the ground. Everything felt disconnected. Looking at the lit screen of his phone, he felt his heart plunge to his chest in disappointment.

The phone felt like nothing in his hand. He should feel something, anything, right? But here he was, staring at the weightless phone and realizing that there wasn't anything he could do. 

He had left his phone at home that morning. When he sat down after school, waiting for Hunk to finish tutoring, he found it in his jacket pocket. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. Lance was sure he left it on his bedside table. 

The sun was low in the sky by now. Lance figured Hunk should be done tutoring one of the younger kids in the workshop class by now, but he didn't see him coming.

He thought about how Keith had heard the same thing he did at the diner a day ago. Pidge hadn't said they were bored, something about not using a system? When Lance tried to concentrate on it, there was a pressure on the back of his head. Lance had a headache. 

As he rubbed his temples, Lance noticed someone's black shoes in front of him. When he looked up, he figured that would be who showed up.

"Hey, Keith." Lance smiled at Keith. Keith had his arms crossed, looking at Lance with his lips pursed in thought. Lance was new to the whole idea that Keith actually went to school with him. Had he really seen him in the halls? It felt like a distant thought to him.

Lance was questioning a lot of things. 

Such as why Keith Kogane had a mullet. 

"Hey, Lance." Keith said. Keith and Lance looked very different. 

Keith had black hair, which was a mullet of all things, and pale skin. There were small freckles dotting his cheeks lightly. He always wore the same outfit; a black shirt and black jeans, boots, and a red cropped jacket. Keith had dark purple eyes, which reminded Lance of the sunset, right before everything turned black covered in stars.

Lance had tanned skin, with messy light brown hair. He had smile lines on his cheeks, and bright blue eyes, just like when you're on the beach that isn't full of pollution, and it's so bright blue and clear you can see your feet and the fish on the bottom, even the sand was in his eyes. He wore his favorite jacket, and changed from grey to blue shirts, comfortable jeans, and shoes. He looked liked a mess, not like someone who spent a lot of time on his appearance. 

"I wanted to talk to you," Keith said gruffly, but he smiled at Lance nonetheless. Lance wondered why Keith looked so grumpy all the time, but he guessed if Keith didn't look grumpy then he wouldn't look like Keith.

"Shoot." Lance leaned back on the steps, letting Keith sit down next to him with a small grunt. Keith looked like he wanted to just leave, but decided against it. Keith was wringing his hands, Lance noticed. He smiled at the action, wondering why Keith was so nervous.

"Yesterday, uh, at the diner.." Keith fiddled with his hands some more. "What Pidge said.."

After a small silence, Lance nodded. "I know. You heard that too." Lance looked at him, setting down the phone on the step in between he and Keith.

"Does that happen to you a lot?" Keith asked hurriedly. Lance thought about it. The times where time seemed to stand still as he looked at his family. Lance looked at the ground for a minute. "Yeah.... it does." He glanced at Keith, who was looking around like he thought someone would hear him. "Do you want to talk about it here or somewhere else?" He asked. 

Keith hesitated, then nodded. "We can go somewhere else. Did you have somewhere in mind?" 

Well, no, I didn't think I'd get this far...Lance thought. 

"I was thinking maybe that older diner down by the docks? That's a good place to talk." Lance stood up with a stretch. Keith followed him, watching as Lance left his phone on the steps. 

"You gonna grab your phone?" Keith pointed at it, confused.

Lance stared at it, then shook his head. "I have a feeling." 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. "That means...?"

"Just wait." Lance told him. "Now come on! We have a diner to get to." Lance smiled cheekily at Keith, laughing at his exasperated look.

-

Lance sat down in the nearest table for two. It was in front of one window that looked out at the water, the sun setting for a good night's sleep. Keith sat down in front of him, noting the cheesy look of the place. It had a Grease look about it. A jukebox in the corner where some kids were looking at the lights, tiled black and white floors and bright colors on curtains and tables.

Lance started shuffling through his pockets, until he pulled out his phone. He set it on the table in front of Keith, looking at it like it was a disappointment. Keith blinked, then looked at Lance. "Didn't you leave that at the school?"

"I left it at home this morning too." He said. Keith watched intently as he leaned back, watching the waves with a thoughtful look in his blue eyes. Keith leaned on the table, watching Lance's face. It's like he's seen that face before. Through battles, through school hallways.

"Really?" Keith picked it up, surprise it didn't feel heavy in his hands. It felt too light to be a real phone, which startled Keith.

"Yep." Lance sounded sure. Keith set the phone back on the table, pursing his lips.

They stopped for a second while a waitress took their drink orders. Lance got a milkshake, whereas Keith got nothing. Which Lance argued about, saying Keith will regret it.

"Strawberry, really?" Keith teased.

"I like strawberry milkshakes, shoot me." Lance laughed, shrugging. Keith rolled his eyes at Lance's choice of smoothies.

"I prefer blueberry smoothies." Keith shrugged, smirking. 

"Dude, blueberries are disgusting." Lance laughed loudly. Keith mocked being offended, hand on his heart and mouth agape.

"Are you kidding? Blueberries are the best thing to happen since bananas!" Keith couldn't hide his laugh at Lance, who wrinkled his nose at Keith.

Lance shook his head. "Strawberries are better, definitely. No arguing about it."

"Show me proof." Keith stated, hand on the table.

"Because I said so." Lance stuck out his tongue at Keith.

"Oh, now you're telling dad jokes, that's great." Keith rolled his eyes, smiling. "What's next, 'Hi hungry, I'm Lance?'" Keith mocked Lance's voice.

Lance chuckled, messing with his hair. "I don't sound like that."

"Uh, yeah you do, that's why I made you sound like that." Keith retorted. Lance snorted. 

They were quiet for a second, laughing. Hanging on to this topic for a second. Lance broke it first, regrettably. 

"Do you notice anything about what's going on?" Lance asked, voice sad (Which Keith caught.) The mood shifted from the light jokes to seriousness. Keith bit his lip in concentration, wringing his hands.

"The others don't notice what's going on, but I always thought I was crazy." Keith admitted. "They seem worried whenever it happens. You were mentioned a couple of times. And sometimes I'll get these random things- I dunno like memories, but they can't be because I've never heard of a 'Katie.'" Keith leaned forward onto the table, closer to Lance. "I hate to admit it, but I got scared at first, when I really started seeing it."

Lance understood that feeling already. "Sometimes, I'll be talking to my family, and it's like I can't seem to remember certain things but I'll have random flashbacks, where it's like I'm hearing the same people but it's a whole different life." 

Keith stared at Lance in awe. Keith always thought he was crazy. No one else ever noticed it. But now, here was Lance, saying he was right. There was something wrong with everything else, not Keith. It made Keith relieved, knowing it wasn't him.

"Have any theories?" Keith looked out the window, avoiding eye contact now. Lance stared at him for a moment.

"We're crazy?" Lance suggested. "Government. Or we're stuck in some alternate universe."

"The voices.. They tell me to wake up." Keith said quietly. He looked around at the people in the diner. Were they all asleep too?

"Same here. So maybe it's option number Tres." He said, holding up three fingers. "We're stuck in something." 

"I wonder what?" Keith mused, tapping the table. 

The waitress set down Lance's drink, but there were two straws. Keith looked up at the waitress, who gave him a wink and a thumbs up before moving on. Keith turned bright red, looking away as Lance stuck his straw in the milkshake. Lance saw how flustered Keith was, and smiled cheekily before taking a sip. 

"I don't mind sharing." Lance said slowly, a smile on his lips. Keith watched his run a hand through his hair, and Keith looked away from Lance with bright red cheeks.

"That's some cheesy couple thing. We're not a couple, and I don't want to share with you." Keith grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting. His face may have tried to look like he wasn't embarrassed but he practically radiated heat from his red cheeks.

"Awe, but this is a story! Y'know.. The pretty main character girl meets a handsome guy with the same issues as she has and they both fall in love while defeating evil." Lance grinned mischievously, 

"That's preposterous," Keith grimaced. "Ridiculous even." He scoffed, rolling his eyes at Lance. "And if anything, you're the girl."

"'Cause I'm pretty? Thanks Keef."

"You ass-"

"My perfect ass."

Keith rolled his eyes again, giving up.

"Okay, don't share a milkshake with me, go thirsty." He told Keith, taking another large sip. "I'll just have to finish off this entire milkshake by myself." He sighed, taking another sip, staring at Keith with indifferent eyes.

Keith rolled his eyes so far back he thought he would go blind. 

"Fine, one sip. But only because I'm actually thirsty." Keith complained, taking the cup and sipping out of the straw. He preferred blueberry, but the milkshake was good (which he won't admit to Lance.)

Lance started giggling, covering his mouth with his hands.

"What's so funny?" Keith scowled, hand on the sup.

"You just kissed me indirectly." Lance said, giggling maniacally.

Keith chucked the straw away, glaring at Lance with bright red face. "Let's just talk about this tomorrow." He said grumpily, crossing his arms with a huff.

"The indirect kiss, or the whole issue we might be having with our sanity?" Lance asked innocently. 

"Do you want me to punch you?"

Lance just smiled. "Softly, with your lips." Lance winked flirtatiously. Keith turned officially redder than a strawberry.

There was a moment of silence, then a loud whack.

"OW THAT HURT-"


	5. Chapter 5

"Lance-what are you doing?"

Lance dropped his spork, suffering a crushing defeat to Hunk, who had an evil glint in his eye as he took the last crouton from the salad. Lance pouted, nearly in tears, as he clutched his chest and fell back. 

Keith almost dropped his own lunch, panicking as he caught Lance from falling onto the floor.

"I've... Fallen in battle... Tell my husband... He forgot- to- to wash the laundry..." Lance grimaced, letting his body go slack in Keith's arm.

Hunk laughed mercilessly, as Keith watched him in utter confusion. Keith set his lunch down on the table next to Lance's plate, then sighed. "I will drop you if you don't get up now."

"I can't talk I'm dead." Lance scoffed, not bothering to move. "Jeez Keith, I thought you knew dead people can't talk."

"Wha-but- you're talking right now?" Keith stammered, then grunted. "Oh- you idiot. Why are you pretending to be dead?" 

"I defeated him in spork battle for the last crouton, thanks to you distracting him." Hunk said, getting a spoonful of stew. 

Lance gasped, sitting up straight. 

"That's right!" Lance pointed a finger at Keith, who had now sat down at the lunch table. The cafeteria was full of students, so they talked rather loudly so they could hear each other. Hunk had forgiven Lance for ditching him yesterday, as Lance have the excuse that his mom called him. He hadn't told Hunk about him meeting Keith after school, otherwise Hunk would either ask questions or whine that Lance ditched him. Keith backed up a bit so Lance's finger didn't stab him in the eye. "This is treason!"

"Treason?? Over a crouton?" Keith took a bite of his lunch.

"The last crouton," Lance emphasized, his finger pointing at Keith like his mother's la chancla weapon would be pointed at him. "So it's not just any crouton. This is absolute treason, an abomination."

Keith groaned, choosing to ignore everything that just happened. 

"Look, I came here to talk to you," Keith murmured. Lance side glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Here?" Lance looked around the room. They were in front of a lot of people. 

Keith rolled his eyes. "No, not now." Lance held up his hands, his previously dropped spork in his hands, his mouth full of stew. Lance looked at Keith with a small amount of distrust because of the crouton.

Once his mouth wasn't full of stew, he said, "Then when?"

"After school, I'll meet you by the steps?" 

Lance nodded, smiling, as Keith grabbed his own plate. Lance looked back to Hunk, expecting to fight over the crouton again. But there was a second, where Hunk looked as if someone split his face in half, like a glitch in a computer, colors flashing around him. When Lance blinked and jumped in surprise, Hunk returned back to normal; a smiling look of disbelief.

Hunk was smiling devilishly, looking back and forth between the two. "Did he just ask you out on a date?"

Keith became red, nearly choking on his stew, and coughed. Lance waited until he was done dying, and then said, "I wouldn't mind if you were, but you could at least be more romantic about it." He teased, patting Keith on the back because Keith was sputtering for air.

Keith punched him in the shoulder, growling. "Shut it. I am not asking you out, and you know that." He glared at Lance, who merely shrugged.

Lance gave him a flirty smile, stroking his chin and laughing. "Looks like we have a tsundere here." 

"Don't make me shove this spork into your throat." Keith held the spork like a knife, ready to attack Lance. Keith had a very pouty look on his face, but it was covered in embarrassment that he couldn't hide.

"Chiiiill, Mullet." Lance said, dipping a piece of roll in his stew. Keith scowled at the nickname. "I'll meet you there. I have something to tell you anyways." Lance glanced back at Hunk, who seemed normal enough. Keith looked over to Hunk also, then nodded to Lance, content that the tease was over. It didn't last long.

"But about that indirect ki-"

"Shut up."

"Indirect ki-' what?" Hunk asked.

"Indirect kill." Keith lied, kicking Lance under the table. Lance jumped in surprise, pouting as Keith stood up in a hurry, cheeks red again. Hunk was confused. He waved goodbye, before walking away with his tray. Hunk snickered, looking at Lance.

"I still got that crouton-"

"Rematch!"

-

There was a part of Keith that wanted to believe everything was real. A pull in his heart, even when he knew better. But ever since he and Lance met, everything felt fake. He desperately wanted this world to be true. It was as if he was hiding something from himself, like if he woke up, like voices told him to, then everything would snap back into a broken place.

Everywhere Keith turned, it looked like the world was falling apart, every other sentence, someone was telling him to wake the hell up. 

What scared him the most was when people or animals or buildings- anything glitches out, like a computer that was broken. 

Keith wanted everything to be real. His mom making food in the kitchen, the radio turned on to an old channel. The sound of her humming and walking around in the kitchen. When his dad came home, he wanted to believe that it was his dad clapping him on the back and asking about his day. But it scared him when the radio turned to static, and he couldn't hear his mother's footsteps, but he could hear her singing along roughly to the song. When he looked at his dad's papers on his desk, and they were blank but he was writing on it. 

It was as if the world was falling apart. 

Everything felt fake now. What once felt real, what felt like his mom holding his hand, Pidge getting excited over a computer game and talking to Shiro or Allura about it in a high voice, not realizing neither of them knew what game she was talking about. That felt fake now.

Except Lance didn't. Lance felt real- like a real thing. A real person. 

Keith thinks he knows Lance wherever it is outside of the glitching faces. 

At least, he wanted to believe that.

-

Lance was whistling the tune of power rangers with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. 

Lance really did look like a mess. He forgot his belt at home, his hair was curled out and sloppy, the collar of his jacket was up because he was too lazy to put it down, and his shirt was wrinkled. But he looked happy like that. 

Keith couldn't help but admire how content Lance looked, despite the situation they were in. It calmed him and scared him all at once. But he knew Lance could feel it too. The need for this place to be real, that they were both just crazy.

They were on a boardwalk, which overlooked the beach in an isolated spot. Lance had his shoes and socks off, his pants rolled up while his feet were in the water. He watched Lance's back, who had his head tilted back slightly to enjoy the breeze. If Keith didn't concentrate enough, then he could feel the wind on his face. Keith took his jacket off, and his arms holding his feet while he sat criss cross on the boardwalk, slightly behind Lance. 

"So how do you think we get out of here?" Keith asked almost silently. He hated having to think this paradise wasn't real. It made his stomach hurt.

Lance opened his blue eyes, taking in the ocean with a sad look.

"Remember when Pidge said something about not using a system?" Lance peeked at Keith, who was watching him.

"I think so." Keith mumbled. He truly kept forgetting sometimes. But then another glitch would show up and remind him. That this was some dream.

"Well, everyone is telling us to wake up, right? What if something went wrong in some kind of system we used?" Lance mused. "I mean, think of it like this.." 

Lance concentrate on the words, trying to make it sound simple. "Going on the basis that we know each other outside of here-"

"How do you know that?" Keith interrupted. Lance looked confused, then avoided answering for a second, and then he gave a half hearted answer.

"My mom once said, 'Keith hasn't woken up either, I'm worried they won't be able to get out of the...' And then nothing else. She was back to asking me about omelets." Lance explained. "But after thinking about it, she sounded kind of like Allura. So since we do hear their voices, we must know them outside this also."

Keith thought about it. "That was actually kind of smart." 

"I was second at the Garrison for a reas-" Lance stopped. "The...Garrison?" He stared at Keith, but not really at him, as if he were trying to recall it. 

Keith perked up. "The Garrison? I've had that mentioned in one of those random memories I get." 

"Maybe that's where we know each other?" Lance smiled hopefully. "I like to think we were friends there." 

"Were?" Keith asked. The sun was setting behind a sand dune, the waters splashing around against the shore. Keith wouldn't mind staying out here a little longer, with Lance.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know." He shrugged. "Anyways, I'm guessing we all went through a system that required using a virtual world."

"Because of the glitching?" Keith asked, and Lance nodded. "So we used a virtual world, and something went wrong? Maybe since we can hear everyone else telling us to wake up, it's just us trapped?"

"Which means we have to figure out how to beat it." Lance said determinedly. "'Cause we clearly got people worried about us out there." 

"How do you suppose we do that?" Keith saw Lance's shoulders slump as he brought his hand to his chin in thought. Keith leaned back, looking out at the water and avoiding looking at Lance. Now that he thought about it, this boardwalk was a place you'd take someone on a date. Keith turned red, mentally punching himself in the face. Not now gay thoughts.

"Maybe... Remembering?" Lance looked to Keith for approval of his plan.

"Remembering what exactly?" 

"Starting at the beginning of one point, and trying to remember the forgotten path." Lance said. "Next time we get a random memory, think about it, and try to take the lead of it somewhere."

"You really act like your dumb, but you're pretty smart... I was gonna suggest we try to do something really stupid and see what happens." Keith said. 

Lance laughed lightly. "Glad someone thinks that... and what do you mean?"

"Well.. it's just, so far, it seems like this place is paradise. Like it's trying to keep us happy or something. And I thought, we wouldn't be happy arrested or something, so maybe we could try to like, jerk ourselves awake?"

Keith turned red again. Lance's hair looked gold in the sunlight, his tan skin glowed with happiness, a smile spread out on his face. He thought about what Keith said for a moment. 

"You're right too. Maybe we could try both. Jerking ourselves awake and also trying to remember at the same time."

"You really think we're friends in.. In real life?" Keith asked, leaning forward again. Lance paused for a second, staring at Keith, then shook his head forcefully as if trying to shake something off of his head. He looked away, his face red. "So no?" Why did he feel disappointed?

"What? No- I mean, of course I do!" Lance laughed, throwing an arm around Keith's shoulders, and shaking him. "Best buds. Besides Hunk of course." Lance said, hugging Keith tightly and then relaxing.

Keith ignored the gay thoughts he was having about the arm around his shoulders, and let out a small smile. "Kay then. Best buds." Keith was content with that.


End file.
